Back From School

For years I knew that I one of my milestones was to learn more about the interactions between the business functions and engineering.  In December of 2016 I graduated with an Executive MBA. This filled in the blanks between what I knew about the improvement of People, Processes, Products, and Performance and the functions of Finance, HR, Systems, Governance, International Business, and Marketing.

There are many ways to improve yourself or your team with internal training or by trying unfamiliar tasks, but the objective is to learn and apply what you learn.  Stay tuned in for more and post in the comments below if there is a topic you would like for me to explore.

Information Supply Chain Excellence

We all see the effects of good and bad quality.  Whether we are in the hardware product flow or the information product flow, the level of quality of the inputs to our part of the process can impact how effectively we can perform our value-added tasks.  Occasionally we see glimpses of good quality inputs and can go straight to performing the work to change the product closer to what the customer is paying for.  Other times we have to rebuild everything to get what we need, thus delaying delivery and leaving the customer with a desire to find another supplier.  This "rebuild" requires labor and material beyond what is calculated in the base price.  The more "rebuild" you perform, the more your variable costs increase (hint, hint... the faster you will go out of business).

Looks like one person knows what I'm talking about....

Lean Office Survey

Another semester finished and now my mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought careening through a cosmic vapor of invention fueled by the interactions between Engineering, Marketing, Production, Finance, Human Resources, and Quality!

Let's kick the summer off with a survey!!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/G7YN7VJ

Thank you for your participation and as aways, have nice day!

Work Flow & Cash Flow

Not Too Long Ago In An Office Not Too Far Away….

Lean Guy and Money Girl worked around each other, listened to each other and other team managers talk about their current statuses and issues in the Monday 8am meeting every week, but did not really connect the dots between the results they were both trying to achieve individually.  Sure, everyone has gone through the Intro to Continuous Improvement training, the site was 99% compliant to that target.  And the site completes their mandated “3 Kaizens per Year” target easily by the end of the second quarter every year; we are number 1 in the company!

Sound familiar?  While these goals and targets are not bad, do you know why they exist and the purpose they serve?  We spend a considerable amount of time talking about activities that are value-added in a process, but how does this translate into increasing the value of the site or company?

Book Review: The Leader's Compass

A Personal Leadership Philosophy Is Your Key to Success (2nd Edition)

This was a quick read told in a story about a rapidly growing organization, their journey to excellence, and the role that mentors play in the building of people, specifically Leadership.  The story's main characters are Guy, a 29 year old Marketer from Penn State, and Stanley, a retired Naval Officer that is a good friend and neighbor to Guy.  The new leader was 'sort of' put in charge after an acquisition with a new large scale and ill-defined project.  With this acquisition are new team members who are trying to fit in the organization with no information from the boss.

Quality and Acceptability of Solutions

In the past we have explored the difficulty of change.  One concept attributed to General Electric that we can wrap our heads around is Q x A = E.

Q = Quality Level (1-10) of the Solution to Solve the Problem

A = Acceptance Level (1-10) of the Solution in the Organization

E = Effectiveness (0-100) of Deployment of the Change

Transparency

Part Four of the Foundation Thinking Series

The word Transparency has received much attention over the last few years, yet I believe it is misunderstood among those who use it most.  Transparency implies openness, communication, and accountability. Transparency is operating in such a way that it is easy for everyone to see what actions are performed and how decisions are made.  We can see the results of actual Transparency in our Behaviors, Performance, and Values.

And since companies can't actually be accountable, communicate, be open, or exhibit other human behaviors we are really talking about the people in the company.  The people in the organization must have the right behaviors, performance, values, and integrity.  Problems around those issues will not be repaired if they stay in the dark bureaucracy where "people" barriers stop the flow of information.  If people in your organization have integrity problems, you will not like the results of you new-found imperative.